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“Yes,” she said, her voice cold. “That sounds about right.”

“Something’s wrong with the Changeling,” said Chakotay, continuing to share his thought process with her. “I heard Crell say something about him soon being his old self again. I wonder if he’s infected with the disease?”

Sekaya shook her head. “Chakotay, there’s so much going on here that I’m not at all familiar with. I mean, we heard about Changelings. That they were also called the Founders, and pretty much the ones who led the Dominion. I know the Vortas and the Jem’Hadar thought of them as gods.”

Chakotay nodded. “But even gods can die. Starfleet created a bioweapon—a disease that would kill all the Changelings. There was one Changeling who grew up, for lack of a better word, in the Alpha Quadrant. His loyalties stayed with the Federation. He was cured, and after the war he went to the Great Link and spread the cure among all the Changelings.

“But if this Changeling didn’t get back to the link,” Chakotay continued, “he may still have the disease.”

“And Moset’s a doctor,” Sekaya finished, following her brother’s train of thought. “He brought Moset in to help him.”

“That’s a good theory, but maybe not the only one. It could be something else.”

“I know what Moset did to us,” Sekaya said. “But it sounds like he’s done a lot of other things, too.”

Chakotay chuckled humorlessly. “He didn’t get the nickname the Butcher of Bajor for nothing. Are you sure you want to know?”

“Yes. I do.”

“He used to be chairman of exobiology at the University of Culat and won the Cardassian Legate’s Crest of Valor. He liked to use live subjects for his experiments, and during the occupation of Bajor, hundreds died because of those experiments.”

Sekaya made a small noise in the back of her throat. When her brother paused, she said quietly, “Go on.”

“He exposed subjects to nadion radiation, to observe how they died. He blinded people to watch how they adapted to their disability. He’s known for curing the fostassa virus, all right, but only because he infected hundreds of Bajorans with it.”

Sekaya turned her head so he wouldn’t see the tears in her eyes. Blue Water Dreamer…oh, Great Spirit, was that how you died?

“The Enterprise captured him during the war. He was performing experiments on Betazoids—trying to see if he could create a telepathic race of Jem’Hadar.”

Sekaya inhaled swiftly. “That’s a terrifying thought.”

“The worst part was, he succeeded. Thank goodness the Jem’Hadar couldn’t handle all the sensory input. Everyone thought he was killed when Picard had him transferred to another ship and that ship had a warp core breach. I think it’s pretty obvious now that the breach was a ruse by the Changeling to liberate Moset.”

“What’s in it for him?” Sekaya asked abruptly. “Why is he doing this for the Changeling? You said it’s been years since Katal freed him.”

“That I don’t know. Maybe a sense of honor; he’s got one, though it’s twisted. Maybe he feels he owes Katal something for freeing him.”

Sekaya shook her head. “I think it’s more than that. There needs to be some powerful reason Moset hasn’t trumpeted his return from the dead.”

“Being a Cardassian mass murderer doesn’t have quite the cachet it did when the war was still going on,” Chakotay reminded her.

“No, but…he has an ego. When he…experimented on me, he wanted me to be all right with whatever he was doing. He wanted to stick these things in my head, to slice open my skull, and for me to like him for it.” The words were like ash in her mouth. Her stomach clenched and for a moment she thought she was going to be sick.

“That rings true with what I saw of the holographic simulation,” Chakotay agreed. “Katal knows he’s committed murder. That he’s doing things society calls evil. He doesn’t give a damn. But Moset always wanted to explain himself. So what about spending three years helping a Changeling heal? Gratitude only goes so far.”

“I wonder if Katal has something on Moset, to force his cooperation.”

“Again,” Chakotay